Special Counsel’s Whistleblower Award-Winner Still Owed Pay from Army

An Army hospital infection control specialist who clashed with supervisors after reporting health regulation violations came to a Washington luncheon on Thursday to receive the Office of Special Counsel’s Public Servant of the Year Award.

Yet, despite having reached a back-pay settlement with the Army a year ago and retiring from her job at Fort Bragg, N.C., whistleblower Teresa Gilbert has not received all the money she is owed, her pro bono attorney, Kevin Owen, told Government Executive. “The Army doesn’t seem to want to pay her the back pay,” he said. “She got half her buyout over 100 days late, and they didn’t give her retirement credit for the year she spent on unpaid leave as promised.” There are also outstanding issues at the Merit Systems Protection Board, the attorney added.

The Army did not respond to requests for comment.

Gilbert was honored by two lawmakers and nearly the entire staff of the Office of Special Counsel at a hotel ballroom, including three attorneys from the OSC Dallas field office who investigated her case.

 “Teresa Gilbert is a true hero whose efforts likely saved the lives of soldiers at the Womack Army Hospital in North Carolina,” said Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner. “When Ms. Gilbert became concerned about the unacceptable risk of infection at Womack, she refused to stand idly by and watch. Her tenacity and bravery should serve as an example for us all.”

The facts as presented by OSC are that Gilbert, as the Ft. Bragg hospital’s only board‐certified infection control specialist, three years ago observed the use of unsterilized equipment in operating rooms, as well as other deficient practices. “She initially made her disclosures to the hospital, which failed to act. She then turned to the Joint Commission, a nonprofit that accredits hospitals,” OSC said in a release. That commission’s members visited the site, but Gilbert was prevented from speaking to them. Their probe confirmed that the hospital had 19 systemic deficiencies, including the lack of an infection control plan and a staff inadequately trained. Authorities said at least two patients’ lives were lost as a result of the problems.

In April 2014, the Army began an internal investigation, for which Gilbert provided information. As a result of the commission’s and the Army’s findings, operations at the hospital were shut down for over a week, senior leadership was relieved of command, several managers were disciplined, and Gilbert’s second-line supervisor was issued a reprimand.”Ms. Gilbert’s first line supervisor retaliated against her by cutting her work hours in half and engaging in other pretextual personnel actions, which culminated in her proposed removal,” OSC said.

OSC investigators stepped in in 2014-2015, finding no legitimate basis for Ms. Gilbert’s removal. In September 2015, the sides reached a settlement on her whistleblower retaliation claim.

Gilbert praised the professionalism of OSC to the audience, saying the investigators “never let me know how they felt one way or the other when they asked me questions.” She told Government Executive she had always received excellent performance reviews, but after the disclosure, she was “a pariah” and colleagues of 20 years told her they couldn’t talk to her. The Army sent technicians to wipe her computer clean, she added, and the investigation and forced unpaid absences almost drove her and her husband to bankruptcy. “I learned to dot i’s and cross t’s, always to get documentation,” she said.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., the co-chair of the House Whistleblower Protection Caucus, addressed the gathering and called Gilbert “truly a heroine” and the OSC “a tremendous asset to the federal government. Speier said she may bring Gilbert in for December hearing.

Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, also cited the OSC for its “critical work” with whistleblowers. “Without the front-line employees, we couldn’t meet our obligations to the men and women who serve this country, and we would never have understood the magnitude and depth of the problems” at the Veterans Affairs Department, he said, in reference to the scandal over doctored patient wait-times records that were brought to light by whistleblowers.

Gilbert told the audience, “I didn’t see myself as a whistleblower but someone trying to do their job.”